140 Firms Back Open USD to Eliminate Minting Fees and Volume Caps

Woofun AI reports that Visa, Mastercard, and BlackRock have launched Open USD, a new stablecoin supported by over 140 businesses including Standard Chartered, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, DBS, U.S. Bank, BBVA, Mizuho, Westpac, Itaú, and OCBC. This coalition aims to resolve structural inefficiencies in current stablecoin markets through three specific design principles: zero-cost minting and redemption without artificial volume limits, full earnings distribution from underlying reserves minus a small management fee, and collaborative governance via Open Standard. Zach Abrams, Founding CEO of Open Standard, confirmed the initiative unites these 140 entities to build a stablecoin specifically for the internet economy. Mastercard's Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert characterized the project as shared infrastructure, while BlackRock's Global Head of Market Development Samara Cohen described it as expanding business choice in accessing tokenized value. Per Woofun AI, the partner roster extends across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, indicating a deliberate global distribution strategy rather than a US-centric approach. BNY's Chief Product and Innovation Officer Carolyn Weinberg projected that the stablecoin sector could reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. This broad institutional alignment marks a significant shift toward decentralized governance models in digital currency issuance.